Dan Lawrence, born in Leyton, is currently in Brisbane preparing to take on Australia in an Ashes series Down Under. It’s what every young English cricketer dreams of.
Touted as one of the most promising young English batters in the game, we take a look his cricketing career, and how he’s ended up in the England Test squad.
Early Record Breaker
Lawrence grew up in Chingford and went to school at Trinity Catholic High in Woodford Green. He left school before completing his A Levels in order to fully focus on his cricket.
He rose through the ranks in the Essex academy, representing them from U13 age group after impressing for his club, Chingford CC, where his dad was groundsman.
The decision to leave school seemed to have done him wonders, as Lawrence progressed his game and made his first-class debut for Essex as a 17-year-old.
In just his second game, Lawrence became the third-youngest player in history to score a century in a County Championship match, contributing 161 at The Oval to a score of 600/8d, against the likes of Kevin Pietersen, Kumar Sangakkara and Jason Roy. The records tumbled, as the innings also made him the youngest ever Essex centurion as well as the youngest to score a century at The Oval, a stadium steeped in cricketing history.
International Recognition
Lawrence’s burst onto the scene soon caught the attention of the England selectors, as the Leyton lad was promptly called up to the England U19 squad for the 2016 World Cup. The tournament was a dissapointment for England as they finished sixth, but Lawrence still managed to average 53 across the tournament, including a mammoth score of 174 in the Young Lions’ tournament opener. The score remains the highest ever score for an England youth international and the only time anyone’s breached the 150 mark.
Title winner
Averaging 37 in your first season of first-class cricket as 17-year-old is no mean feat, and it does build the reputation and pressure on you somewhat when you’ve already broken records that have stood for decades.
Lawrence lived up to those expectations. Starting the season at just 18 years old, he scored 902 first class runs including another three tons, averaging 48, and even took his first three first-class wickets with his unconventional off-spin as Essex secured the County Championship Division Two title.
He followed it up in the 2016 season too, as the Eagles cruised to their first County Championship title win since 1992, going unbeaten all season. Lawrence again starred, scoring another three centuries, including an unbeaten 141, as he averaged 45 and was the county’s second top scorer on their way to securing the title at the first time of asking.
Double Winners
The 2019 season for Essex brought their first double-winning season since 1985, and their first Twenty20 cup in the county’s history; Lawrence played a huge part in both. The Eagles won their second County Championship title in three years, with the now 21-year-old averaging 38, including a match-winning knock of 147 against Surrey and a trio of half-centuries as Essex clinched the title on the final day of the season.
The 2019 Vitality Blast brought Essex’s first piece of white-ball silverware the club had won in 11 years. Lawrence struck nearly 400 runs on the way to earning a winners medal, averaging 35 and striking at a highly impressive 153. His four half centuries was the most for Essex and included two man of the match performances against Sussex and Hampshire.
A Lion Down Under
Lawrence received his first England Lions call up for the winter tour to Australia in 2019-20 and the Essex starlet was without a doubt the star of the tour. Across six innings in three red-ball games and three white-ball games, Lawrence hit two centuries and two fifties on his way to 493 runs, averaging 99 with the bat and was even the Lions’ joint-leading wicket taker of the tour with 11, at just 23.
The destructive form Down Under ticked every box for the England Test team’s selectors, just two years away from the all important and ever-looming Ashes series.
The Inevitable Call-Up
After the major success with the Lions, it was common knowledge that it was only going to be a matter of time before Lawrence received his first call up to the Test side. He was named in a 30-man squad for the West Indies series, which would be the first series after the national lockdown, and again in the following series against Pakistan, without being able to make the matchday squad.
It may not have come straight away, but the following winter, for the tour to Sri Lanka, Dan Lawrence finally got the England call-up he’d dreamt of. He was placed straight into the starting line up as well, thanks to the absences of Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope, and in spin-friendly conditions, he shone brightly.
A commanding 73 in his first Test innings, Lawrence provided good company for Joe Root, whose double-ton gave England a commanding lead in the first Test. Tasked with a target of just 74 to win the Test, Lawrence and Jonny Bairstow coasted the tourists over the line with an unbeaten partnership of 62.
The remainder of the winter was a touch inconsistent for Lawrence, but a personal highlight of his would have been the half-century he managed to score against India in Ahmedabad against a spin attack of Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel, who were both at their frightful best.
What Next?
Despite a strong unbeaten 81 against New Zealand at the start of the summer, Lawrence lost his place in the first choice England Test XI after a difficult home series against India. The return of Ben Stokes to the England side has also put the Essex batter slightly lower down the pecking order, but with time firmly on his side, the 24-year-old looks set to be a key piece in the future of England’s Test cricket.
He also received an ODI call up earlier in the year, due to the original squad having to withdraw from the series against Pakistan, and an entirely second-string squad had to be selected. There’s more than a small chance of the youngster getting his chance in the white-ball format in the future too, should he be able to push on in the white-ball format with Essex.
This Ashes series might have come slightly too soon for him to leave a lasting impact, and with the England middle-order potentially the most secure part of the team, it will take a lot for Lawrence to break into the first-team over the next few series. But with rotation in the England side being so common under the coaching of Chris Silverwood, Lawrence will certainly get his chances, and it’s up to him to take them.
Dan Lawrence Photo: The Guardian
